Jim Wendler makes some great points in his talk about the "chasm" between how training is portrayed on social media and how it is actually practiced by coaches in the field.
His points about the lack of athletic development that he finds in his high school and junior high football candidates apply very well to adult fitness and novice strength trainees who first walk into the gym for training.
For the most part these adults have spent countless hours and years sitting in front of computers, not developing themselves physically, and narrowing their parameters of athletic competence.
However inspired they might be by images of powerlifters, weightlifters, ultra-runners, or whatever, their own state of physical preparedness requires a much more simplified and generalized approach to training. What they need to do, first, is very different from what they find in Instagram or Youtube sub-cultures. They need to build a base of strength and movement before they specialize. They need to develop general competence.
And, if you are a coach or trainer, you may feel pressure to comply to the narratives of the social media-fuelled fitness subcultures. Let me warn you that it is not wise to steer your novice or general fitness-oriented lifters into training like powerlifters or whatever other speciality you identify with. Training them like they need to be trained is not the same as training them as they want to be trained or as you train yourself. A little self-awareness goes a long way.
His points about the lack of athletic development that he finds in his high school and junior high football candidates apply very well to adult fitness and novice strength trainees who first walk into the gym for training.
For the most part these adults have spent countless hours and years sitting in front of computers, not developing themselves physically, and narrowing their parameters of athletic competence.
However inspired they might be by images of powerlifters, weightlifters, ultra-runners, or whatever, their own state of physical preparedness requires a much more simplified and generalized approach to training. What they need to do, first, is very different from what they find in Instagram or Youtube sub-cultures. They need to build a base of strength and movement before they specialize. They need to develop general competence.
And, if you are a coach or trainer, you may feel pressure to comply to the narratives of the social media-fuelled fitness subcultures. Let me warn you that it is not wise to steer your novice or general fitness-oriented lifters into training like powerlifters or whatever other speciality you identify with. Training them like they need to be trained is not the same as training them as they want to be trained or as you train yourself. A little self-awareness goes a long way.
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